


A Birthday Celebration

by Five_star_hellhole



Category: Cassandra Palmer Series - Karen Chance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 23:29:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13669542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Five_star_hellhole/pseuds/Five_star_hellhole
Summary: Cassie realizes Pritkin has never had a birthday, she plans to change that. One shot.





	A Birthday Celebration

**Author's Note:**

  * For [natsing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/natsing/gifts).



What do you do for the man who doesn’t like to be the center of attention? Cassie sat at the kitchen island drinking her coffee debating that very question. They had had a birthday celebration for one of the girls last week and she couldn’t help but think that Pritkin had never had one. He had never been in the situation where someone celebrated him, focused on him for who he was and not what he could do for them. She had seen that acutely when she had chased him through time.

As she took another sip of her coffee, a Pritkin special, she mulled it over. He would hate to be surprised with a bunch of people jumping out at him, that one would probably end bloody. She doubted he would consent to coming to a party he actually knew was going to happen, intensely private would be a good way to describe him. And its not like she even knew when his birthday was, or that he knew it either. She tapped out a small rhythm with her fingers while she debated it before pulling out her iPhone. 

“It would need to be in spring” she mumbled. Green was his favorite color and with water being his element it made sense to pick the greenest and rainiest part of the year. Not that it rained in Vegas but who was to say they would stay there forever? Next she looked up Wales. English he was not, he liked to remind her. So maybe an important date for Wales? She thought about just picking the spring equinox but it seemed just a little too corny. Instead she settled on March 1, St. David’s day, the day for the patron saint of Wales and one of the most celebrated holidays in the country that focused on traditional welsh culture and history. Seemed appropriate enough, barring the whole him being born outside Christianity thing. 

Now that she had a date she had to figure out what she would actually do. Anything she did would have to be done with what he would like the most. While forcing him to wear a birthday hat and be serenaded by singing vampires was an image she would like to see and cherish forever, she doubted she could force that to happen.  
She tried to think of all the times she had seen him smile or enjoy himself. It was a short list. Even shorter when you take out the times they were running for their lives or surrounded by explosions. That would be a little hard to do for a celebration. Then again, the hotel was already in shambles…. No. No, that probably wouldn’t be the best idea. She continued to drum her fingers against her coffee cup. 

Slowly a smile started to spread across her face. She had the perfect idea.  
*****  
March 1.

Today was the day. She had planned it all out. Now she just had to wait for him to walk through the door of the suite. She only had to wait a few minutes before she saw him walk in. He couldn’t see her, as she hid behind the door to the kitchen, but he had slowed down and was taking a suspicious look around at the empty suite. She had pushed everyone out. She saw the moment he spotted it, the note and gift bag she had left on the floor in front of the door. He slowly reached for it and she had to roll her eyes as he checked it for booby traps. After a few minutes he finally finished checking it over and picked it up. He tilted his head at it as if confused. It was obviously for him, if the giant “PRITKIN” scrawled across it wasn’t eye catching enough she had also added glitter to his name. Well she had let one of the girls do that, they really had a thing for the bright pink bottle.

She continued to spy on him, taking in his furrowed brow as he opened the card attached to the bag. She knew exactly what it said but enjoyed watching his face as he figured out what was happening. She had carefully scrawled the message inside a birthday card she had had Rhea pick up on the last grocery trip. She would have liked to pick it out, but her going on a grocery trip would have been suspicious enough to make him question her. “Take your weapon, soldier.” The card said, “If you can catch me with it, you’ll get a surprise. If I win though, I get one “get out of a workout” card. Come and get me.”

Cassie was still smiling at the memory of the card when she watched him pull out the two small kid’s bright green plastic dart guns from the gift bag, each with 3 suction cup darts. He was smiling slightly before he loaded a dart into each gun and pocketed the others. She gripped her’s a little tighter and crouched slightly as he moved through the room, gun at the ready. She had even had his tracking spell dimmed so he could only sense that she was near but not exactly where. “Thank you, Rhea” she thought as he moved towards the sliding door the pool was on the other side of. Just as he started to peek through the curtain, she moved slightly out and fired. She was already moving across the suite, not daring to see if she hit him, before barrel rolling behind the couch as a dart whizzed over her head. 

“Did I get you?’ She shouted from behind the couch.

"Barely” He snorted. “Grazed my arm, we need to get you some more practice at the range.”

She rolled her eyes. “Still counts! One to Zero, Cassie in the lead!” 

She began to get nervous when he didn’t respond. She peeked over the couch to see where he went. The moment she did, a dart grazed her face and smacked into her ear, causing her to jerk back. She was already on her feet running towards the suite door, as the thudding of his feet followed her. She made it through the door, buying a second when she launched another dart at him causing him to swerve to avoid it, and slammed it behind her. She was breathless and giggling slightly as she made her way down the stair well. The hotel was closed because of the war, she didn’t have to worry about running into anyone. The vampires were all hanging out in the lounge and guestrooms keeping watch but not interfering. The girls were down in the hotel pool having some fun with Tammy and the misfits. 

She laughed out loud when she heard him reach the stairwell, giving away her position. “You’re not very good at stealth, Cassie.” Pritkin said, mirth obvious in his voice but, when she looked up, his face completely serious. She just stuck her tongue out at him. 

“One to One, Palmer. I’m coming for you.” Pritkin said as he leapt down a flight of stairs and landed at the top of the one she had just reached the bottom of. They both trained their weapons on each other. Without a second’s hesitation they fired, both hitting each other. Her getting him in the leg, he got her in the chest. The both began rapidly readying their next dart as they chased each other down the stairwell, firing as soon as they were ready. She missed more often than he did, but today wasn’t about winning. 

She had just finished her last dart and missed him when he slowly started to walk over to her, loading his last dart. She was trapped at the end of a hallway, and he was taking his time to casually get closer. He stopped a few feet from her, his green eyes bright, with a smile he said “Any last words?”

“Take your best shot.” She breathed at him. As he pulled the trigger she shifted and appeared behind him. He turned towards her, no doubt to yell at her for breaking the rules, before she grabbed his hand and shifted. They stood now surrounded by lush greenery and a running creek. A dilapidated mill wheel barely visible anymore. He turned in a circle taking in their surrounds before looking at her. 

“Happy Birthday, Pritkin” She whispered as she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his stubble covered jaw. He just looked at her, dazed, as she took his hand and led him over to the picnic blanket and basket of food she had laid out earlier, with a warmer so there would be no complaints. She glanced up at him as they sat down and saw him smile as he realized where they were. The first place he had ever met her and where she had finally found him again. His “birthday” may be unknown, but she knew exactly where they would celebrate.


End file.
